Opening Day at The Cambodia Academy

Practicing for Opening Day - I Think You're Wonderful

Back in Siem Reap at the Angkor Holiday Hotel, other board members and guests started arriving at the hotel for the kick off cocktail party at the Foreign Correspondents Club and dinner. (thanks for the drinks, Rich!) Many folks we only knew thru emails, Facebook and conference calls, but there was this incredible bond we felt for each other due to our involvement in the school. The excitement was palpable.

Cocktail Hour and Dinner at the Foreign Corespondents Club

Bright and early the next day, we crammed into 2 buses for the long trip to Monkgol Borie – one bus would come back to SR, the other would head off across the border at Poi Pet, to return to Bangkok.

As we rounded the drive up to the school, all 345 children were lined on either side of the road to greet us. On either side of the lane, at the beginning of the line, were 2 pairs of the older kids with baskets full of scarves. Each guest was given a scarf and greeted in English. I can’t begin to describe how full all of our hearts were- these kids were bursting at the seams with joy! All wanted to shake hands, high five or just pranam and say “HELLO!” The line seemed endless and I didn’t want to miss greeting each child. Rounding the corner and thru the gate, 3 large tents awaited us. Many parents attended and were standing to receive us also. This is quite an honor as taking a day off, for many of them, will cut into their meager incomes. Yet it is an honor for their child to attend the school.  Parents understand the whole family will benefit if only one child obtains their 9^th grade education. All children are chosen from families with the most need. The poorest of the poor in a very poor country. A poverty which you can’t imagine.

Students waiting at the front gate

Prima say hello to some of the older students

Harvey with this scarf, on his way to the tents

Parents waiting under the tents for the festivities to begin

The ceremony started off with all the kids singing in English, “I Think You’re Wonderful.” Afterwards, 7 of the older girls, who had been studying Khmer Dance entertained us in beautiful, traditional costumes. Afterward, we all had to sit thru mostly boring speeches, including one from the Minister of Education which came specifically for opening day. Then Gunvar stepped up for her speech. Gunvar is on the board, from Sweden and spent 2 months at the school teaching. She gave her entire speech in Khmer! All the kids were besides themselves-the speeches were no longer boring! Gunvar made the girls promise that one of them would be the Premier of Cambodia one day. We were all blown away with Gunvar’s dedication to speak to the students in their own language. All the students get a half a day of English Education, but there is nothing like hearing your own language spoken.

Beautiful Dancer

Traditional Khmer Dance

Lunch was next. Everybody eats! At the Academy, all children get 2 meals a day -with protein. That’s 14,000 meals a month. Those in need can take what is left over home. But today, was special. They really went all out for us, their guests. A feast of mammoth proportion. Coco-Cola’s, French Fries, French Bread (that’s what everyone thinks the rest of the world eats – ha!) Noodle dishes, sweet and spicy chicken, stir-fried rice with meat chicken, soup with blood chunks and more chicken, sliced pineapple and ice on the table. The older students served us and everyone cleaned up afterward. On a typical school day, all students clean up after lunch.

Ratmays Mut and Me - Shelly's McMurry's Child

Most likely to become Leader of Cambodia one day

Teachers together for photos

The Board Members

Now it was time for pictures with our students and tours of the school facility for Donor’s who were there for the first time. The kids had been told to talk to all of us, to help with their English-speaking skills. There was much giggling and hugging. Of course, the girls were bolder. Everybody wanted a picture to be made.

Hank - official photographer- shows a student her picture

By the time we left, my face hurt from all the smiling. We joined the bus taking the 1.5-hour journey to Poi Pet, to cross the boarder into Thailand. At the border, we were let out of our bus with all our bags. The border between Thailand and Cambodia is a no-mans land that is filled with a large casino. One checks thru immigration and proceeds to walk a couple of hundred yards across the border to the Thai side, where you go thru immigration, yet again. Then, one has to catch another bus or taxi to take you to your destination. Luckily Primo and Prima make this journey often, and had a taxi waiting for us on the other side. 

3 hours later we were in Bangkok.

The Cambodia Academy - Part 1

2 Buildings on either side of the courtyard hold the students

We scheduled the first 7 days of vacation, to coincide with the opening day of school at The Cambodia Academy at Mongkol Borei.

Prima Troxell talks with students who are receiving new uniforms

 Harvey is a board member for this free school in Cambodia and has been for about a year now. Our cousins, Primo and Prima Troxell, have been involved with this excellent cause for many,many years.  Opening day is a big deal for the kids who attend school there. All the board members go as well as many of the sponsors. The board is an international affair, with members from Sweden and Austria. The school boasts sponsors from around the world, as well as support from International Rotarian Clubs.

The Jamestown, NY Rotary supplied a new water filtration system

The School Bus - Supplied by a Rotary in Sweden

It is an arduous journey to get to Mongkol Borei, as the school was placed as far away as possible from civilization and built in the midst of rice fields: an oasis of education, in the middle of abject poverty.

Students cleaning up for Opening Day

Getting all the leaves up at the Teachers Lounge

Weeding the flowers

It took us 3 traveling days to get there: the flight to Bangkok, via Japan was 12 hours, an overnight stay in Bangkok, up the next morning for a 2-hour taxi ride to Don Meong Airport for a hour flight to Siem Reap and another two and a hold hour taxi ride to the school – of which there is no hotel near except for another 1.5 hour ride in the opposite direction. I’m exhausted just writing about it.

The KItchen-14,000 meals a month for students

Vice Principal Tang working on name tags

Nonetheless, it is all worth it. Prima and Primo have a winter home in Thailand, so they spend much time at the school, where we met them. Workers, teachers and the Troxell’s had been painting, getting school rooms ready, replacing roof overhangs. Mr. Tang, the schools vice principal, was busy making name tags for opening day for students, faculty and honored guests. Soviet Misch, the Principal, was busy arranging for tents, flowers, Cambodian Dignitaries. All the while, students were showing up for their 2 new uniforms (provided at no expense by the school) and school supplies (also free).

While all Cambodians are eligible for education, it is not entirely free. Students’ families must be able to afford uniforms, school books, supplies, transportation, and food. In addition, families must be able to afford to let their children spend time at school, as many families need the kids to work to make ends meet. The Cambodian Academy not only gives their students an education, it gives them a childhood which poverty robs them of. 

Spirit House and Classrooms on Campus

2nd Graders just getting their new uniforms

The students are very proud of their school. Not only are the teachers working, the students came to work making the school ready also. They were in charge of the grounds. There are kids everywhere, weeding and trimming the grass with hand-clippers, trimming trees and picking up leaves. 

With Shelly's sponsored students LamLan and Ratsmay

 Sponsorship for a child is 295.00 a year.

Konphong Phhluk - Siem Riep Provence

Kompong Phhluk is the flooded forest of Koompong Phhluk, alongside an otherworldly village built on stilts. Kampong Phhluk is a commune and village in Siem Reap Provence in northern-central Cambodia. It is a village built on stilts on the Tonle Sap. The name means "Harbor of the Tusks".

We awoke super early at the Angkor Holiday Hotel, to have breakfast and meet Hank and Sout for a tour of the village of Kampong Phhluk. About an hour from Siem Reap and down a long, long dirt road, you come to a large earthen pier, extending out into flood waters. The pier is about 10 feet above the water level. A very impressive mound of dirt! On our left, are hundreds of boats, waiting for tourists. On the right of the wide, earthen pier, food stands litter the edge-hoping for a hungry tourist.

For Cambodia, it’s a cool day, with a breeze drifting off of the water. We have come early to miss the busses that arrive around 10am and are lucky to be on the first boat of the day and its only riders. Sout has come with us to explain what we are seeing and to translate for the Captain. The boat is long and narrow, with a rudimentary engine and gears. 

The waterway is remarkably similar to Florida. Sout has a hard time accepting that Cambodia can look anything like Florida! The only thing missing are ospreys. The only other traffic out are locals racing into shore for market. We wave, they stare. 

The first building we locate is the police station. Then a school, a 2-story school on stilts.  The main town is incredible. All the homes are build on wooden stilts. Rickety stilts. Each home has 3 levels – boat level with a small landing, second an open level where other boats are dry docked, empty water containers stored, fishing nets and wood are stored. The highest level is the home, itself. All homes have porches with flowers, some are covered, some are not. The locals save and retrieve empty water bottles and create other floating storage areas. Women drift by in their skinny boats with grocery supplies – a floating 7/11 if you will. 

Arriving to the flooded forest, we disembark to catch a canoe thru the dense, shaded landscape. There are at least 30 canoes waiting on the days arrivals. As we are so early I’m sure more will be on the way. Our new paddler, glides us thru the wet landscape. It is delicious that suddenly we are removed from the loud humming of the first boats motor, and are able to hear the birds and families that surround us.

All of our merry little band relies how precious this moment is; floating silently thru the submerged jungle before the rest of the tourist arrive.

Arriving back to the pier, we find a cacophony of tourists, vendors, busses and boaters. It is not yet 10 am.

Last stop on our little tour is for pictures at the Pranaming Gator, on the outskirts of a country town, for  what I hope will be our Hanukkah card this year.